thank you, nancy. major garrett is following developments at the white house. major, what do you hear from there tonight? >> reporter: anthony, the president spent the afternoon in the oval office, january 1, new year's day, presiding over a country and economy that has technically gone over the fiscal cliff. at this hour, anthony, white house officials tell us the president is somewhat optimistic that republicans, despite their misgivings and reservations will find a way to either have an amendment process or come narrowly close to one but ultimately allow this senate compromise to come up for an up-or-down vote and the president, in confering with nancy pelosi, believed there are sufficient house democratic votes with a few republican votes to get this deal done. the vice president, joe biden, spent a lot of time with house democrats today. that was a very persuasive presentation, house democratic officials tell me. there are lots of votes on the democratic side. the question is can republicans provide enough on their side to get this deal done. the white hou